Tim Tesseneer, of Rutherfordton, says he was one of the first two men to reach the van after the pregnant woman drove it into the ocean north of the Silver Beach approach in Daytona Beach Tuesday afternoon.

The other man, Stacey Robinson, who Tesseneer thinks is from Orlando, was nearby with a broken-down vehicle waiting for a jump-start when he, like Tesseneer, saw the van go into the water.

Tesseneer spoke with WYFF News 4 on Wednesday.

"What if I hadn't been there? What if Stacey hadn't been there? Everybody else was just driving by videotaping. What if we hadn't done that? Would it have been another Susan Smith deal where she murdered three kids? Come to find out -- four of them -- they say she's pregnant," he says.

Investigators have not yet determined if the mother, identified as Ebony Wilkerson, 32, of Cross, S.C., had a medical emergency or if there was another cause, but Tesseneer and other witnesses say the woman intentionally made a hard turn into the ocean.

The children in the minivan are 3, 9 and 10.

"I threw my car in park and took off as fast as I could. I'm almost 300 pounds, so that ain't fast," Tesseneer says.

"Them kids, the way they looked, outstretched arms, it was just terrifying," he says.

He says the woman driving the minivan did not respond.

"She had this blank stare on her face, and this kid was sitting on her lap trying to steer her away from the water. The two kids in the back seat was like, 'Help, help, my mom's trying to kill us.'"

Video of the rescue shows a rescuer carrying two children away from the sinking van when the children tell them there was another child inside.

"The kids are like, 'No there's a baby. There's a baby,'" Tesseneer said. "(The mother) wouldn't say a word. She didn't tell us nothing about a baby."

The men are seen on video frantically trying to get to the youngest child through the hatchback and the driver's side door.

"It was adrenaline," he says. "It was just instincts of a father, of a human. It just took over. All I could think about was saving those kids. That’s all I cared out. I didn’t care about her. I didn’t care about the van. I wanted those kids. The water was cold. I wanted those kids out and get them in warmth. Get them away from her."

A lifeguard helped get the youngest child, who was strapped in a car seat, out of the car.

"(The water) was picking the van up. It was rocking like a boat. One time I jumped out of the way because I thought this was going to land on me. I was losing my footing because the wind was so choppy. Waves were so rough. It was up -- I'd say it was at least half way up the van. At the end of it, the van was fully submerged. It was awful," says Tesseneer.

Video shows that the mother appears disoriented and walks away from the minivan, with the child still inside.

"She had this look on her face," says Tesseneer. "I can't describe it. It was just an awful blank look, like spaced-out look."

The mother has been admitted to a local hospital for a mental health examination.

"If it was a medical condition, I hope she gets treated. If it was not, if it was a Susan Smith deal, I hope she goes to prison, bottom line," Tesseneer says.

Tesserman says after the rescue, his family had dinner and drove nine hours home to Rutherfordton.

He says he wanted people to be aware of what Robinson did.

"He needs a lot of credit, because he's the actual one who laid his hands on those kids," he says.

Investigators trying to sort out facts

Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson says that family of the pregnant woman had called Daytona police earlier in the day because they were concerned about her mental state. Johnson says officers spoke with the woman and all she would say to them was that she planned to go to an abuse center. They talked to her about two hours before she ended up on the beach, Johnson says.

The Florida Department of Children and Families is also investigating the mother's drive into the ocean. Officials says the children will be placed with family after they are released from a hospital. Harrell says the children are OK, and were just "shaken up."

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